After 40 Years, Grisly 'Exorcist' Book Gets A Rewrite

'I'm Not Regan': Linda Blair played the young Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. In the book, Regan becomes possessed by a malevolent demon who makes her head turn 360 degrees.

William Peter Blatty also wrote the screenplay for The Exorcist, which earned 10 Academy Award nominations in 1973. His most recent novels include Elsewhere, Dimiter and Crazy.

JT Blatty
/ HarperCollins Publishers

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Originally published on October 30, 2011 12:10 pm

In 1971, a novel set off a frenzy that soon inspired a film — and then a firestorm.

In The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty told the spine-chilling story of a little girl named Regan MacNeil, the daughter of a Hollywood star shooting a film in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Funny things start happening in the MacNeils' rented house: They hear noises in the wall, and Regan starts speaking in a growl, levitating, turning her head 360 degrees and spitting up green slime. Then, Regan's bedroom gets as chilly as a frozen foods case and her bed starts flying around.

Readers were drawn to the novel's profane subject matter, making it a best-seller. When the book's film adaptation came out two years later, fans waited in lines that stretched around city blocks to catch the first screenings; some even tried using battering rams to force their way into theaters.

Forty years later, Blatty has revised and polished his landmark novel, even adding a whole new character. The result is a 40th-anniversary edition that's just as terrifying as the original.

'A Blessing From Above'

Blatty tells NPR's Scott Simon that before he started writing The Exorcist, he'd been working as a comic novelist, and screenplay writer for comedian Peter Sellers. Then, in the summer of 1969, the comedy job market dried up.

"I said, 'What am I going to do?' " Blatty remembers. " 'There is this novel I have been thinking about writing since my junior year at [Georgetown University] and what else have I got to do now? I'll do it.' "

Blatty spent the next nine months working on the novel. About three weeks before it was finished, he received a lucrative offer to adapt it for the big screen.

"I raced through the ending of the novel and that's it. I had no time to do another draft. It was my first draft. Now, you know, I virtually prayed for a chance to do it again and then along comes [HarperCollins], and on the 40th [anniversary] I'm still around," he says. "I thought it was like a blessing from above."

'I'm The Devil!'

About halfway through Blatty's novel, Damien Karras — a priest and psychiatrist experiencing a crisis of faith — is called in to help the troubled Regan. Their first encounter is unsettling, to say the least. Blatty writes:

Regan's eyes gleamed fiercely, unblinking, as a yellowish saliva dribbled down from a corner of her mouth to her chin, to her lips stretch taut into a feral grin of bow-mouthed mockery.

"Well, well, well," she gloated sardonically and hairs prickled up on the back of Karras's neck at a voice that was deep and thick with menace and power. "So, it's you ... they sent you!" she continued as if pleased. "Well, we've nothing to fear from you at all."

"I'm not Regan," she rumbled, still with that taut and hideous grin that Karras now guessed was her permanent expression. How incongruous the braces on her teeth looked, he thought. "Oh, I see," he said, nodding. "Well, then, maybe we should introduce ourselves. I'm Damien Karras. Who are you?"

"I'm the devil!"

Blatty says he actually didn't mean to make the book as scary as it turned out. Instead, it was meant to be a novel about faith, in which Father Karras' beliefs are tested by Regan's possession.

"It's a humiliating confession. I have no recollection of intending to frighten anyone at any point in time," he says. "That's Stephen King — he's the master of terror."

An Accidental Success

According to Blatty, his book was initially a disaster. It was so bad that his publisher went so far as to treat him to a farewell lunch. But in the middle of lunch, Blatty got a call from The Dick Cavett Show. They had lost a guest at the last minute and wanted him to fill in.

"I came out onstage, and Dick Cavett said, 'Well, Mr. Blatty I haven't read your book.' I said, 'Well, that's OK, so I'll tell you about it,' " he recalls. "I got to do a 41-minute monologue. That was it."

The next week, Blatty picked up a copy of Time magazine at the airport and found that his book was No. 4 on the best-seller list. Not long after, it reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list — and it stayed there for 17 weeks.

"I still didn't plan on frightening anyone. I sleep with a night light!" Blatty says, laughing. "It was all an accident."

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Forty years ago, a novel set off a controversy, which soon grew into a film - and then a firestorm. "The Exorcist," by William Peter Blatty, told the story of a little girl named Regan - at a time when Richard Nixon was president. It was the daughter of a Hollywood star who was shooting a film in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Funny things start happening in their rented house. They hear noises in the wall; Regan starts speaking in a growl, levitating, spinning her head around, and spitting up green slime. Unusual behavior, even for a 12-year-old. Then her bedroom gets as chilly as a frozen-foods case, and her bed starts flying around the room.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE EXORCIST")

SIMON: Not exactly 'Mary Poppins,' is it? Forty years after 'The Exorcist' hit the best-seller list, William Peter Blatty has revised, polished and restored some parts of the book, added a whole new character. The result? "The Exorcist: The 40th Anniversary Edition." William Peter Blatty joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

WILLIAM PETER BLATTY: Oh, what a pleasure to be invited to be here. Thank you.

SIMON: And what made you revise a novel that has already sold 13 million copies?

BLATTY: When I wrote the novel, books were my love. I was a comic novelist, as a matter of fact, and screenplay writer - "A Shot in the Dark," and that sort of thing.

SIMON: Peter Sellers comedy.

BLATTY: Right. And the summer of 1969 - I recall at the start of that summer, comedy dried up. I could not, as the saying goes, get arrested to write. And I said, what am I going to do? There is this novel I have been thinking about writing since my junior year at Georgetown, and what else have I got to do now? I'll do it. And I worked nine months. And so at about three weeks away from completion, I had an offer to adapt - they call the Willingham novel, "Providence Island," for the screen for Paul Newman - for very, very large bucks. And I raced through the ending of the novel and...

(SOUNDBITE OF HAND CLAPS)

BLATTY: ...that's it. I have no time to do another draft. It was my first draft. Now, you know, I virtually prayed for a chance to do it again, and then along comes Harper and Row and the 40 - I'm still around on the 40th; I can't believe that, 40 years - and I thought it was like a blessing from above.

SIMON: Let me get you to read a section from "The Exorcist"...

BLATTY: Oh, sure.

SIMON: ...if we could. Father Damien Karras, the priest-psychiatrist, comes to meet the tormented little girl, Regan MacNeil. And to say the least, he finds her to be not a typical 12-year-old.

BLATTY: (Reading) Regan's eyes gleamed fiercely, unblinking, as a yellowish saliva dribbled down from a corner of her mouth to her chin, to her lips stretched taut into a feral grin of bow-mouthed mockery. Well, well, well, she gloated sardonically. So, it's you.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

BLATTY: (Reading) They sent you, she continued as if pleased. Well, we've nothing to fear from you at all. Yes, that's right, Karras answered; I'm - I'm your friend, Regan, and I'd like to help you. Well, you might loosen these straps, then, Regan croaked. She had tugged up her wrists so that now, Karras noticed they were bound with a double set of leather restraining straps. I'm afraid you might hurt yourself, Regan, he told her. I'm not Regan. I'm the devil.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SIMON: You do a pretty good possessed...

BLATTY: Thank you. I did the audio book narration, right?

SIMON: Is there something you learned over the past 40 years that you put into this revised version?

BLATTY: No. Let me be honest with you. No. It was - the basics were all there. Ultimately, at its heart, it was always meant to be - the only reason I wrote it - was a novel of faith. And I have not the slightest recollection - I'm not being cute, I mean it; humiliating confession - I have no recollection of intending to frighten anyone at any point in time. Now to be - you know, the terror, that's Stephen King. He's the master of terror.

SIMON: So you believe in the devil - a devil incarnate?

BLATTY: Dick Cavett asked me that. He's the reason the book is not in the trash bin of history.

SIMON: Yeah.

BLATTY: I must therefore, tell you the story. "The Exorcist," when originally published, was a disaster. Nice reviews, lively.

SIMON: I didn't know that.

BLATTY: Oh, yeah. Really, I am not exaggerate â it was a disaster. Harper treated me to a farewell lunch. They sent one rep, and we lunched at the Four Seasons. And well, the phone is brought over to the table; they want to know if I could get there in 10 minutes. It was "The Dick Cavett Show." They had lost a guest at the last minute, and they were ready to go. I threw down my napkin, and I tore over to the studio. I came out onstage, and Dick Cavett said well, Mr. Blatty, I haven't read your book. I said well, that's OK, so I'll tell you about it. He says oh, please.

BLATTY: I got to do a 41-minute monologue. That was it. At the airport the next week, I picked up a copy of Time magazine. And I looked at the best-seller list - fiction - what? What? What?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

BLATTY: This is a mistake. It's number four. Two weeks later it was number one on the Times list, stayed at number one for over four months. It was all an accident. I still didn't plan on frightening anyone.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

BLATTY: I sleep with a night light. Please.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SIMON: William Peter Blatty, who has just brought out new and expanded, revised version of his mammoth best-seller, "The Exorcist: The 40th Anniversary Edition." Thanks so much.